


Orion

by ISingTheSkyElectric



Series: Sheith Month 2018 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, First Dates, Getting Together, M/M, MMA, Sheith Month 2018, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 23:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15181274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ISingTheSkyElectric/pseuds/ISingTheSkyElectric
Summary: “So where did you crash last night?” Pidge asks, pulling their nose out of their textbook. “You obviously didn’t go home since you’re still wearing the same clothes.”Keith resists the urge to growl at all of them by taking another gulp of his coffee. It burns on the way down and he’s thankful for the warmth. “I don’t know,” he finally answers.Lance rolls his eyes. “Of course you don’t.”“Hey,” Keith snaps, leaning forward. “All I know that it was a bedroom at the frat house and the guy had a galaxy on his ceiling.”“A what?” Pidge asks.“Like… those galaxy tapestries,” Keith frowns down at his drink, thinking. “Like the one Allura has.”“Oh, so you crashed with Shiro.”The table is quiet for a heartbeat before Lance explodes. “YOU SLEPT WITH SHIRO?”





	Orion

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5: Galaxies
> 
> In which I continue to be unable to write short works.

Keith wakes up to see stars above him.

He blinks, trying to focus with his pounding head. It feels like someone cracked a baseball bat over his head and then decided to run him over with a truck for good measure. He’s exhausted despite just waking up and there are still stars above him.

Okay, he’s definitely not hallucinating that part.

He muffles his groans behind his teeth and immediately regrets it. It brings up the taste of morning breath and old alcohol. He slowly sits up and takes in his surroundings.

Keith’s definitely not in his dorm room. This room is smaller than the one he shares with Pidge but there’s only a single bed. A bed that he’s in. There’s a futon is pressed against the wall covered in a lumpy blanket and a desk under the single small window that filtering in the rising sun. A old wooden wardrobe is a hulking presence, too big to actually fit. Old posters plaster the wall, the largest being a movie poster for something called Voltron. Above Keith, a large galaxy tapestry is pinned to the ceiling, white stars plastered against the black, blue, and purple of a nebula.

It looks like something Allura would have in her bedroom and it just confuses Keith further. 

Keith presses his hands to his eyes and swallows another groan. Last night was… was… the Trio forcing Keith to come to a party with them. At Pidge’s brother’s house. Who was in the LEO frat. 

He got pulled into a frat party. God, he is never drinking alcohol again. 

Keith slowly forces himself to stand, blinking away the pain that comes with a change in position. He then realizes that he’s only wearing his boxers and socks. 

He admends his vow: he’s never going to a party again.

He slowly pulls on his clothes that were folded neatly on the desk chair. His red shirt reeks of alcohol and he curses the fact that he let Lance force him into the single pair of skinny jeans he owns. 

A noise makes him freeze with one shoe on. Keith turns, his heart pounding, to the futon. The blanket has moved and he can now see the person that lays under it. The guy is tall, built like a quarterback under the blanket. He can barely see the tuft of white hair that peeks out, but his bare feet stick out from the other edge. Keith barely breathes out of fear of waking him up. He carefully shoves on his other shoe, double checks for his phone, wallet, and keys, and tiptoes past the guy to the door. He slowly opens the door, breath held for any squeaking hinges, and escapes through as soon as he can. 

\----------

“So, how was the sex?”

Keith glares at Lance through borrowed sunglasses, briefly thinks about chucking his still-hot coffee in his face then drops that idea. It’d be a waste of good coffee and Pidge would refuse to buy him another one. “There was no sex,” he replies instead.

Lance jaw drops. “I dressed you like that and you didn’t get laid? I call bullshit.”

Keith scowls around his sip of black coffee. “I don’t care about getting laid, unlike someone.” 

“Come on, man. You gotta let loose,” he says, waving his sugar-loaded coffee around like it wasn’t going to spill. “You’re wound too tight and getting some good dick can do wonders.”

“Lance,” Hunk groans. “Not at the breakfast table. Also, we’re in public.” He waves his hand to indicate the entire cafe they’re sitting in, bustling with college students.

Keith rolls his eyes. “Besides, I’m fine without getting laid. I’m too busy for it anyways. Between practice, school, and my job, I don’t have any extra free time.”

Lance points a finger in his face, leaning across the table. Keith has to stomp on his urge to break it. “That is exactly what you said last night. Didn’t stop you from going out with us.”

“You dragged me out,” Keith corrects. “And I regret it.”

“So where did you crash last night?” Pidge asks, pulling their nose out of their textbook. “You obviously didn’t go home since you’re still wearing the same clothes.”

 

Lance grins triumphantly, shaking his finger in Keith’s face.

“Also,” Hunk adds, “no offence, but you smell. Like bad. Like you dumped half of the alcohol bar on you.”

 

Keith grunts. “Pretty sure I got some alcohol spilled on me.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Lance snaps. “No changing the subject. Who did you crash with last night cause it wasn’t the three of us and we’re the only people you know.”

Keith scowls. “I could’ve crashed with Regris. Or Tanter. Or Edunn.”

Lance raises a thin eyebrow. “Ok, I know the rest of your Ninja team wasn’t there, so that rules out them. And don’t say Allura cause she was working on her dissertation.”

Keith’s grip goes tight on his coffee, heat burning into his palm. He’s tired and his head hurts and he just wants to go home and sleep. “We’re not ninjas. We’re the college’s MMA team, how many times do I have to tell you?”

“You’re avoiding the topic,” Hunk point out. He raises his hands in a “don’t look at me” pose when Keith levels him with his best glare. Lance leans back and crosses his arms, obviously waiting for an answer.

Keith resists the urge to growl at all of them by taking another gulp of his coffee. It burns on the way down and he’s thankful for the warmth. “I don’t know,” he finally answers.

Lance rolls his eyes. “Of course you don’t.”

“Hey,” Keith snaps, leaning forward. “All I know that it was a bedroom at the frat house and the guy had a galaxy on his ceiling.”

“A what?” Pidge asks.

“Like… those galaxy tapestries,” Keith frowns down at his drink, thinking. “Like the one Allura has.”

“Oh, so you crashed with Shiro.”

The table is quiet for a heartbeat before Lance explodes. “YOU SLEPT WITH SHIRO?”

The cafe goes dead silent. Keith’s face goes instantly hot and he immediately knows his entire face now resembles the color of a tomato. He sets down his coffee and buries his face in his hands to keep from strangling Lance to death or melting into a puddle right in the middle of the cafe. 

“He crashed with Shiro,” Pidge puts in. “Shiro doesn’t sleep with drunk people. Plus he’s the three dates kinda dude.”

“Hunk,” Keith groans through his fingers. “Please tell me you have more aspirin.”

“Sorry buddy. All out.”

Keith forces his scream into a groan.

Lance whines, collapsing against his seat dramatically. “I can’t believe you crashed with Shiro. That’s amazing.” He leans forward, eyes dancing and a borderline-manically smile spreading across his face. “Did he talk about winning the championship? Or the amazing pass he threw? Wait, did you see his ring? Or-”

“I snuck out,” Keith cuts him off. “He didn’t even wake up.”

“Keith, my dude, why,” Lance whines. “You could’ve talked with him. You were right there.”

“I don’t care about football, Lance.”

Lance smacks his forehead into the cafe table and Keith has to hide a trumpiant smirk with his coffee.

\---------

“Hey.”

Keith pauses in the middle of his drill, catching the heavy bag as it swings back towards him. He looks over his shoulder, annoyed at whoever decided to interrupt his workout. He needs to practice, not chat.

A guy stand there, tall and wide. His thin gray shirt highlights the fact that he’s pure muscle, shoulders wide and waist narrow. His jawline is strong, eyes gray, and a white forelock hangs over his forehead. 

He’s exactly Keith’s type, if he had to choose.

“Can I help you?” he says, forcing his voice flat so he doesn’t show his annoyance. He doesn’t know who this guy is, and chances are he doesn’t want to know.

“Sorry, Shiro. Takashi Shirogane,” he gives a bright smile and Keith ignores the fluttering in his chest. “You crashed in my room a week ago.” The guy sticks out a hand to shake.

Keith stares at the hand, then stares at the red gloves wrapped around his fists. 

The guy - Shiro - realizes the problem after a second. He drops his hand to rest on the gym bag sitting on his hip. His smile turns sheepish and he shifts on the balls of his feet. “I, uh, wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m good,” Keith replies, a little too bluntly. He winces internally, wishing he could take those words back. He tries to smooth it out. “Thanks for letting me sleep there for the night.”

Shiro grins, pink flushing across his cheeks and Keith definitely has to stomp on his heart that time. “It wasn’t a problem,” he says. “I hope you found your friends.”  
“What?” Keith frowns, trying to place where that comment came from.

Shiro’s smile starts to slip. “You, uh, you lost your friends that night. They disappeared and you couldn’t find them. Do you not remember?”

Keith resists the urge to rolls his eyes at the Trio and shakes his head. “No. Can’t remember much of that night. Drank too much.” Just the thought of alcohol makes his stomach cramp. He’s not touching that stuff again.

Shiro looks oddly crestfallen, fiddling with the strap on his bag. “Oh, I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Keith says.

Shiro opens his mouth, pauses, then closes it again. “I-I’ll see you around then. If you ever show up at an LEO party.”

Keith smiles and bites back a comment about never setting foot in a frat house again. “I hope so.”

Shiro smiles back, gives a little wave, and trots off in the direction of the locker room. Slightly puzzled, Keith turns back to the heavy bag. It was nice that Shiro decided to seek him out to check on him, but he could easily see that Keith was fine. He didn’t need to talk to him. 

Keith shoves the thoughts and the image of gray eyes out of his mind.

\----------

“So, why was Shiro the Hero talking to you?” Edunn flutters her lashes at him, a wide smirk on her face.

Keith heart stops. “Wha?” he chokes out around a mouthful of hamburger.

Regris glances up from his salad, fork paused mid-strike. “What? Shiro talked to you?”

“It was for five seconds,” he replies.

Kolivan sighs, setting down his glass of whiskey. “Swallow before you speak.”

Keith swallows. “Edunn, how do you know Shiro talked to me?”

Edunn hums, flicking her blue hair out of her eyes. “A little birdy told me. Apparently you are the Cinderella in this story, my dear. Shows up at the ball, gets drunk, seduces the Prince, and runs off without even saying goodbye. And when the Prince finally tracks you down, you can’t remember a thing.” She takes a bite of her rice. “A shame really.”

Tanter whistles lowly. “You done fucked up.”

“What? How?” Keith glances around the table. Kolivan is steadfastly ignoring his athletes’ drama, Regris is staring his salad like it has the answers to the universe, Thace continues to shovel heaps of rice on his plate, Tanter looks like Keith’s about to die right at the dinner table, and Edunn is grinning like a cat who got the cream. “How did I fuck up?”

“Well, you broke the Prince’s heart,” Edunn replies.

Keith has to pause to process that. “What?”

“Uh-huh. Yep.” She spins her fork over her knuckles. “Turns out, drunk you is very good at squirming it’s way into Shiro’s heart. Heard you were suave and charming. Don’t know how you managed that.”

“We need to get you drunk more.” Tanter grins. 

Keith catches Regris rolling his eyes.

“Okay, but I’m just some guy that he met at a party. We didn’t even sleep together,” Keith points out.

“Yep. But,” Edunn sighs dramatically. “Apparently Hero Boy is smitten. He can’t stop talking about you. His entire frat is intimately aware that you are god’s gift on this green earth and Shiro worships the ground you walk on.”

Keith groans. “Oh no.”

“Oh, yes. And when he found out that you didn’t even remember him, it broke his heart. He’s sworn off dating for the rest of his life, wants to die a spinster surrounded by twenty cats.” Edunn pouts at Keith. “You’ve taken Marmora’s most eligible bachelor and turned him into a moping teenage girl that cries over your picture every night.”

Keith scowls at her. “I take back everything I said about you not being a good theatre major. You’re a soap opera character.”

Edunn laughs. “Keith, really, you got this boy wrapped around your pinkie finger. You should date him.”  
Regris glances up. “He is a good person. Nice and polite.”

“See,” Edunn points her fork at Regris. “Even Regris thinks so and he barely speaks.”

Tanter leans forward, green eyes bright. “Keith, you gotta go on at least one date with the dude. It’s been what, three years since you last saw someone? Get back into the saddle, my dude. Get some action. Besides, I can prove that getting some can help during the season.”

“Ugh, no one wants to hear about your sex life.” Edunn waves Tanter away and grins at Keith. “So, what do you say? At least one date with the Hero Boy?”

 

Keith stares down at his half-eaten hamburger. He could say no and Edunn would drop it after some pouting, but… he hasn’t dated anyone in a long time. His friends joke about his lack of love life, but he can tell they’re worried for him. They want him to be happy. Plus, Shiro was his type. 

Keith sighs. “Fine. One date. He picks the time and place.”

“Great!” Edunn says. She pulls her phone out of her pocket. “I’ll tell Olia and she can tell Matt and Matt can tell Shiro.”

“It’s scary how many people you and your girlfriend know,” Tanter points out.

“Oh definitely,” she agrees.

“No phones at the dinner table,” Kolivan says.

\----------------------------

“You’re late,” Keith points out, breath fogging into a cold mist.

Shiro jogs up the step to the science building, black backpack slung over his shoulder. “Sorry, sorry. Matt dragged me into a Mario Kart match and I lost track of time.” Shiro pulls a key from his pocket and unlocks the door to the building. “Come on, the security guards don’t know that I have this.”

Keith raises an eyebrow but follows in anyways.

They jog up the stairs to the rooftop. Shiro opens the door at the top and Keith loses his breath. The night sky spread out above him, stars sprinkled on a thick black blanket. There’s barely any light pollution and space looks close enough that he can reach out a hand and touch it.

“It’s beautiful,” Keith whispers, head craned back.  
“Yeah, I know,” Shiro replies, just as soft.

Shiro pulls a thick blanket from the backpack, spreading it out onto the cold concrete. He takes a seat cross-legged and Keith takes it as a cue to settle down next to him. Shiro sticks his hand inside the pack again and brings out two thick thermoses. He passes one to Keith.

Keith unscrews the lid. Inside, the liquid is dark and he can smell the heat and sugar. “Hot chocolate?”

Shiro hunches his shoulders and grins sheepishly. “Yeah, family recipe. Figured it be better than coffee this late at night.”

Keith lets out a small laugh and takes a sip. The chocolate floods his mouth, rich and creamy and full of sugar. He can feel the heat spreading through his muscles as he swallows. “Mmh, that’s delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he replies.

Keith tilts his head back to stare at the stars again, bangs falling away from his face. “So which constellation is your favorite?”

“Who says I have a favorite constellation?”

Keith lowers his head to raise an eyebrow at Shiro, face flat and unimpressed with his antics. “Stargazing for a first date and you bring hot chocolate. Also, you’re probably an astronomy major.”

Shiro ducks his head in a laugh, eyes crinkling at the corners. “You’re close actually. Astrophysics.”

Keith grins. “At least I didn’t say astrology.”

Shiro laughs again, louder this time, and something in Keith’s chest bursts into a warm puddle. He knows it’s not the hot chocolate. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Shiro grins up at the stars. “Orion, actually. The Hunter.”

“Show me?” Keith asks.

Shiro leans over, head falling close to Keith’s. His body is a warm line of fire and Keith suppresses a shiver. Shiro raises a hand, finger tracing lines between stars like a connect-the-dots puzzle. “That one right there. You have the three stars in his belt - Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Rigel is the brightest one in the constellation and it’s Orion’s left foot.”  
“You really like that constellation, huh?” Keith asks. 

Shiro drops his hand and leans away. Keith instantly misses the heat and closeness. “Yeah. The Orion Nebula is also my favorite.”

“The one on your ceiling,” Keith guesses.

Shiro flushes dark in the night. “Yeah. I, uh, forgot you saw that.”

Keith takes the chance to scoot a little closer. “I like it. It was pretty. Must be nice to wake up to.”

Shiro laughs. “Yeah. It helps when everyone’s shouting in the morning.”

Keith takes a sip of hot chocolate, remembers how Edunn said Shiro was ‘smitten,’ and decides to take the chance. He places his hand over Shiro’s, feeling the warm skin under his. “So, tell me about the other constellations,” he says, hoping he doesn’t sound like he’s dying. His heart is beating so rapidly in his chest he thinks it might break.

Shiro is silent for a heartbeat before he swallows a large gulp of hot chocolate. “Well,” he says, setting down the thermos and raising his hand again. “Auriga is right near Orion’s head. She was the inventor of the chariot.”

Keith smiles to himself and starts to believe that this could go well.

**Author's Note:**

> [ I have a tumblr!](http://isingtheskyelectric.tumblr.com)


End file.
